Steering-wheel lock for motor-vehicles



P. Di 'MASSOLINE AND L. RONCA. STEERING WHEEL LOCK ron MOTOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 16, 1919. 1 ,35 3 ,487 1 v Patented Sept. 21, 1920.

' 2 SHEET S-SHEET 1,

P. D. MASSOLINE AND L. RONCA.

STEERING WHEEL LOCK FOR MOTOR VEHICLES. APPLICATION FILED mac. I6, 1919.

1,353,487. Patented gknlg ma m g /f Z i552?" I' it. 4 W 5/ 37 5 55% Q 51 7 f x7 {1 5 M 7/ f 55- a I 76/ i I M 77 a 55 H 7% AH 3 v N D err PETER D. MASSOLINE, or JERsnY STEERING-WHEEL Loon roRmoToavnnm s.

Application filed December 16, 1919. Serial No. 345,304.

- LoUIs RONCA, a subject of the King of Italy,

and a resident of New York city, county and State of New York, have jointly invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steering-Wheel Looks for Motor- Vehicles, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in locking devices for the steering gear of motor vehicles, the chief object being to provide a device by'means of which a steering wheel can be locked to prevent the operation of the vehicle by unauthorized persons. To carry out our invention, we provide a simple and effective device by which means the steering wheel, post, etc., can'be locked and rendered useless,for steering purposes, at the Will of the operator of the vehicle, to prevent theft thereof.

One of the features of the device is the combination locking means; thatv is to say, alocking means requiring knowledge of a certain combination to enable one to unlock the locked wheel.

We will now' proceed to describe our invention detail, the novel features of which we will point out in the appendedclaims, reference being'had to the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof, wherein f Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of the steering mechanism for a motor vehicle;

Fig. 2 is afragmentary perspectiveview of the post housing;

Fig. 3 is asectional view enlarged illustrating the position of the parts when a steering wheel is locked,the section, being taken on a line 3-3 in Fig. 1; I

Fig. 1 is asimilar view, illustrating the parts unlocked;

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view, illustrating the wheeland post locked against movement; g

Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view of one of the rotatable disks;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating two of the rotatable disks and associated sleeves;

. Fig. 8 is a bottom'planview of one of the sleeves; and i Fig. 9 is an enlarged cross sectionalView, the section being Fig. 5.

In the drawings, a steeringr post is i'ndi catedby 11, a wheel,fsecured. to the post,

by 10 and a housing, for the post, by 12;

(Fur invention comp'risesia plurality of disks 13, 14 and 15 rotatably supported by-the housing 12 and spaced apart by'sleeves 16,

The collars 17 and 18,'as wellas sleeves 16, are secured to the housing 12b5 means of pins 19. Withinfthe'housing 12 .we' slidably mount a block 20 having pro jections or teeth 21 to engage" recesses 22 in a collar 23' rigidly secured to post 11, in this instance .by a key;-24=. The block.

orrY, NEW JERSEY, AND Louis RONC'A, OF NEW. YORK, 1v. Y. V. I

Specification of Letters Iatent. I Pafiented se t 2 1 1920 takenon a line 9'9 J 7 the end disks 13 and 15 havingin contact therewlth cooperatingcollars 17' and 18.

engage collar 23 to'lock wheel 10' against 7 operation as a steering element, we provide each disk 13, 14 and 15 and sleeves 16 with a slot 28 to 'receive'the projections 27 on bar 26. The collars 17 and 18 are also each provided with a recess 29 and 30, respectively, to permit the end projections 2'? to be moved to clear the disks adjacentthereto. upper collar 17 .is further provided witha slot 31 for the passage the r'ethrough "of handle25. The slots indicated by '32'and 33 (Fig. 2), as well as in Fig. 5, are obvi The l ously to receive the bar 26 and handle 25, 7

respectively. When block 20 is raised to its highest position, as indicated in Fig. '5, the wheel 10 will be locked against'movement,

for the reason that projections 21, on block '20 will engagerecesses 22 in collar '23, the

block 20 being held against rotation by the engagement of. slot 32 by the bar26, as. well as the engagement of slot' 33 by handle 25. When block 20 is moved down to cause prQ- jections 21 to leave recesses 22, the wheel 10. and post 11 can be turned or operated for steering purposes. l/Vhether block 20 can be moved or not depends upon the position of disks 13, 14 andv15, or rather upon theposition of the slots in said'disksrelatively 28 in'the disks. Each disk 18,1i and .15 is 50 the disk 15 to the extent of four rece'sses,- th'e i to the slots'28 in sleeves 16. Before said to which each disk is moved is optional, a 7 number of different ,COIIlblDELtlOIlS being obblock can be moved longitudinally of post 11, the slots. 28 in disks 13, 1g and have to be brought into alinement with slots 28 in sleeves 16. To cause said slots to aline, the disks have to be rotatably moved to a predetermined selected extent. The extent tainable. To set the disks to a certain combination we employ pins 34:, there being a pin in each disk 13, 14 and 15, said pins or stops being used as a starting point when the combination is to be employed to cause slots 28'to aline. The pins 34 operate in rabbet grooves in the superimposed sleeves or collars.

I In other words,-pin 34 in" disk 13 will operate in a rabbet groove in collar 17, while the pins 34 in disks 14 and 15 will operate in a groove in sleeves 16.v Each'disk (in this instance) is moved to a different extent to cause slots 28 to aline. The amount of movement for each disk .is determined by the position of the pins 34: relative to the slots provided with recesses 36 equally spaced,

and each sleeve l6'and lower collar 18 is providedwith a latch 37 in the'form 0i ball, which is forced against its adjacent disk by a spring 38; In this instance, pin

PA-indisk 13 is located at the third recess therein, and pin 34 in disk 14 is located at the fourth recess'therein. In Fig. 7 the disk 13 is intersected at the line 77 of 6 showing pin 34: at the thirdrecess assuming the wheel to be locked and the operator of p the vehicle desires to unlock same, he would first rotate the disks to'cause pins 34 to contact with cooperating stop pins .37 which form the starting polnt of pins 3a and-which are located close to the slot 28in the superimposed collaror sleeve (see Fig. 9). The slots 28 will, of course, be out oi ialinement still. To cause the slots to al'ine, disk 13 would be rotated to the extent oii two recesses 36'; the latch associated;therewith would click twice thereby giving notice that V tworecesses have been employed, and the disk 14. to the extent'of three recesses, and

latches for each disk serving as a. tell-tale.

I tated.

' above mentioned result.

The slots 28 would now be in alinernent and block 20 can be lowered, causing projections 21 to leave recesses or slots 22 in block 23,:

after which the wheel and post can be ro- W hen the blockdrops, the teeth or projections 27 will be positioned between the disks in the slots 28 in collars 16. The stop 38 at the end of recess 30 in collar 18 serves to position the block to produce the If desirable, the disks can be rotated to cause the slots 28 change the combination at any time by merely changing the position of pins 34:

'relativeto the slots 28. Multiple holes for the pins 34 will be drilled at the position of recesses 86, so that the pins may be changed from one hole to the other to change the combination, as wedepend upon the clicking of. the latches to notify the user when the disk has be'enmoved to the requ red extent. By choking we-do not necessarily mean a noise, but rather a slight shock, which can befelt as the balls are forced into the re cesses by the springs. When operated in the dark, this feature of our invention is valuable. V 1 V 7 What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: p x

1. In ELYBlllClG lock, a steering post, an

annularlocking bolt 'slidableupon said post; tumblers surrounding-said bolt to control the movement of saidbolt, means mounted. upon said bolt for abutting said tumblers v adapted to resist themoveme'nt of saidbolt,

passages" in said tumblers for said abutting means at a predetermined posltionv of said tumblers, a housing, said housing and-bolt provided with clutch faces whereby upon a predetermined movement. of said bolt said steering post is locked from rotation-.5 r V 2. In a vehicle look, a steering post, a

housing, a locking bolt slidablelongitirdi: nally of 'saidhousingfor locking saidpost relative to said collar and means for engage:

ment of said locking bolt with said post, a

plurality of tumblerssurrounding said-post. 5

for controlling the movement of saidbolt,

grooves in saidspacing sleeves, abutments in said tumblers, and abutments in said grooves to engage the abutments in said tumblers. 1

3. In a vehicle lock, asteering post, a w housing, a plurality of tumblers surround. ing said post and a'ni annularglocking'bolt provided with a notched projection for interconnecting said housing with said post and releasing said post when said tumblers are in a predetermined position, a plurality of spacing members bet-weensaidtumblers,

and afiixed to said housing the bolt projection extending through said housing, and

movable longitudinally therein. j

PETER D. MAssoLiNn -LoUIs RoNoA.

spacing sleeves between said W tumblers,-

iio 

